Jean Perréal (called Jean de Paris) had been commissioned by Margaret to prepare the plans, and after years of work he presented her with a design which she considered perfect, and gave orders to have it carried out. But soon after Perréal was dismissed, and Van Boghen presided over the work. There is little doubt that he made use of the French architect's designs, which Margaret possessed,[149] but he evidently made important modifications, as the work bears distinct traces of Flemish influence. The best Belgian, French, Italian, and Swiss workmen were employed on these monuments. The principal work was given to a Swiss, Conrad Meyt, who undertook to make the five large statues. The three monuments are placed in the positions Margaret desired in her will of 1508—Duke Philibert in the centre, his mother on the right, and her tomb on the left.

Margaret of Bourbon's monument is built into the thickness of the wall. The princess's statue rests on a slab of black marble, her head on an embroidered cushion, her feet on a greyhound. Four white marble children support shields with her initials and the arms of Bourbon. On the pillars on either side are five exquisite statuettes. Saint Agnes and Saint Margaret stand near her feet, between them a symbolical female figure, whilst near her head are Saint Andrew with his cross, and Saint Catherine of Alexandria dressed as a maid of honour of Francis I.'s Court. The sarcophagus is decorated with nine niches containing five cherubs and four 'pleureuses,' or weeping women, whose faces are almost hidden by their drooping hoods, sprays of marguerites being scattered everywhere in great profusion about the moulding of the pillars.

In the centre of the choir, facing the high altar, is the tomb of Philibert the Handsome, Duke of Savoy. It is divided into two sections. Underneath is the 'gisant,' or naked body, a little larger than life. Twelve pillars, ornamented with niches containing statues of saints in the dress of the period, surround the dead prince and support a slab of black marble on which the figure of Philibert rests in armour, with his coronet on his head, an embroidered surcoat covers his cuirass, the collar of the Annunciation (composed alternately of fifteen enamelled roses and the letters F.E.R.T.) round his neck, the mantle of the Order wrapt round him, his feet resting on a lion. His face is turned towards his wife on the left, his praying hands towards his mother on the right.[150]

Margaret of Austria's tomb under the arcade which separates the choir from the chapel of the Virgin is much larger than the other two. The princess is represented twice; underneath lies her dead body in the habit of the Annunciation, her beautiful hair covering her like a mantle, and her feet bare, showing the wound on the sole of the left foot which caused her death. Above she lies as though on a state-bed, wearing her coronet and embroidered robes, her arms folded on her breast. Four beautiful cherubs bear her armorial ensigns, two at her head and two at her feet (the work of Thomas Meyt, the brother of Conrad). Four columns richly moulded spring from the base of the tomb and support the heavy canopy overhead, around which runs her motto: 'Fortune. Infortune. Fort. Une'; whilst everywhere in the richest profusion are carved her emblems, marguerites twining round a palm branch, and the Briquet of Burgundy in the form of a B interlaced with a St. Andrew's cross resting on three stones.[151] And in the niches of the pillars figures of Saints and Virgins, marvels of beauty, stand grouped around, as if guarding her last sleep.

This magnificent monument was the work of many skilled sculptors, amongst others Jean de Louhans, Jean Rodin, Amé de Picard, and Amé Carré. Close to Margaret's tomb, behind the altar of the Virgin, is a beautiful bas-relief deeply cut in white marble, divided into scenes representing the seven joys of the Virgin Mary, a masterpiece of carving. In the choir are the original stained-glass windows, happily uninjured by time. The figures of Philibert and Margaret appear in their robes of state with their patron saints, and are represented kneeling and adoring the Saviour. Love-knots and marguerites abound in the mouldings round the windows.

TOMB OF MARGARET OF AUSTRIA
IN THE CHURCH OF BROU
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In the princess's chapel the stained glass is particularly rich in colouring, and represents the Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin by her Divine Son and God the Father. The apostles below stand round the empty tomb gazing upwards at the glorification of the Mother of God. In the lower lights Philibert and Margaret, richly dressed, kneel at their prie-dieus, supported by their patron saints.

On the pavement round Margaret's tomb a few of the enamelled tiles may still be seen with which formerly the entire chapel and choir were paved. Behind the princess's chapel is her private oratory, which was divided into two stories, with a fireplace above and below. From her apartments in the monastery she could enter the church by a passage across the screen and a hidden staircase, and thus hear mass and see the elevation of the Host on both altars, without being seen by those who attended the services in the church. All these details had been carefully thought out by the architect, as a letter to Margaret from her secretary, Louis Barangier, shows. In November 1512 he wrote to her from Brou: 'As to your chapels, madame, ... he (Van Boghen) will make them opposite this building (the monastery), and intends to construct one which will be a real work of art, for you will be able to descend from above the screen ... into your chapel, from which you will see the high altar over your tomb.' Margaret had also intended to build a similar oratory in the prince's chapel, but the executors of her will omitted to carry out this wish, and the chapel was never finished, and is now the sacristy.

Beyond Margaret's oratory is the chapel of her Councillor, Laurent de Gorrevod, Governor of Bresse, which is dedicated to Our Lady of Pity. It contains the tombs of Laurent de Gorrevod and his two wives, Philiberte de la Palud, and Claude de Rivoire, and several members of their family. The beautiful recumbent bronze figures of Gorrevod and his wives were destroyed at the revolution, and only the slab on which the statues rested remains, with the founder's motto—Pour jamés (jamais), and the initials L. F. and L. C. (the letters of his and his wives' names) joined by the girdle of St. Francis.